The Obama administration is "not bluffing" in its intent to take executive action on immigration policy if House Republicans don't act soon, top Democratic leaders warned Thursday.

President Obama has delayed any potential changes to his deportation policy to allow House GOP leaders time to bring legislation to the floor this summer. But if the Republicans don't act in July, the Democrats say, unilateral changes by Obama are inevitable.

"We're at the end of the line," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Thursday during a press briefing in the Capitol. "We're not bluffing by setting a legislative deadline for them to act.

"Their first job is to govern," Menendez added, "and in the absence of governing, then you see executive actions."

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) piled on. Noting that a year has passed since the Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill with broad bipartisan support, he urged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring a similar bill to the floor.

"I don't know how much more time he thinks he needs, but I hope that Speaker Boehner will speak up today," Durbin said. "And if he does not, the president will borrow the power that is needed to solve the problems of immigration."

The remarks come a day after Boehner announced his intent to push legislation allowing the House to sue Obama for what the Republicans say is a habitual inclination to overstep his constitutional authority.

"When there is a failure on the part of the president to faithfully execute the law, the House has the authority to challenge this failure," Boehner wrote Wednesday in a memo to House lawmakers.

Boehner did not name specific examples of alleged overreach, but Republicans have long been up in arms over Obama's 2012 program allowing some high-achieving illegal immigrants brought to the United States as kids to stay in the country and work without fear of deportation.

Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking Democrat in the upper chamber, said Boehner and other Republican critics of Obama's executive actions have "a very good antidote" for their fears: "Put a bill on the floor."

"He's, like, shooting his parents and then throwing himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan," Schumer said. "Pass a bill, and that won't happen.

"If they don't bring any bill to the floor, the president has no choice  on a humanitarian basis and on a policy basis  to act where he can on his own," Schumer added.

Boehner on Tuesday said the current influx of immigrant children across the southern border will only make it tougher to pass legislation this year. The Speaker blamed Obama for the crisis.

"The president's making this harder and harder every day for us to try to deal with this in a responsible way," Boehner told reporters in the Capitol. "We've got a humanitarian disaster on the border. Most of it, at the president's own making, in my opinion, and so it makes our jobs much more difficult because of the actions he's taken or not taken with regard to the border."

Some immigration reformers have been hopeful that the recent shake-up in Republican leadership, which will have Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) soon replacing Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in the majority leader spot, could lead to action on immigration reform this year.

But McCarthy on Sunday seemed to throw cold water on that notion, telling Fox News that he plans to do "nothing about immigration until we secure the borders"  a sharp change from January, when he promoted "legal status" for illegal immigrants "that will allow you to work and pay taxes" without fear of deportation.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Thursday that he spoke with McCarthy on Wednesday, urging the incoming majority leader to bring an immigration bill to the floor.

"I don't know how much more time he thinks he needs, but I hope that Speaker Boehner will speak up today," Durbin said. "And if he does not, the president will borrow the power that is needed to solve the problems of immigration."

The GOPe will likely threaten and do nothing....Obama will open the flood gates....it will be found to be illegal down the road byt the courts....but at that point...it will be far to late to turn back...

Once the 20-40 million law breakers are made citizens....the neo-communists will have a strangle hold on the population and goverment...

When he does, it is up to the people who work for him who also took an oath of office to refuse illegal orders. He can issue all the pronouncements he wants but he cannot carry them out himself. I know this would be tantamount to falling on a gernade for these folks, but the nation is in the balance here.

7
posted on 06/27/2014 3:24:38 AM PDT
by Mouton
(The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)

Or it could be in a divine plan to make even the GOP sick of pussyfooting around with amnesty. That if they do, even if they seat a Republican in the White House in 2017, the next Democrat to come down the road will once more play Calvinball with it.

10
posted on 06/27/2014 3:29:48 AM PDT
by HiTech RedNeck
(Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)

Looks like he is giving America a Red Line notice. Too bad the GOP is the only one in the world afraid to call his bluff. More likely they are Brer Rabbits and want to be “forced” into Amnesty, kicking and screaming with a smile on their rotten faces.

All these Amnesty pushers want is to exploit these people. How sicking is that? Cheap labor! They don't want to pay to much for their gardener, Nanny or fast food. Don't give me this humanitarian CRAP!

"Their first job is to govern," Menendez added, "and in the absence of governing, then you see executive actions."

So let me get this straight, Senor Menendez ... If the House doesn't pass a bill that the Senate has passed, then they're not governing?

Hey @sshole ... if the House doesn't pass the bill then the Federal laws on these matters stay the same -- and the only "executive actions" to be taken are the enforcement of the f#%&ing law as it stands.

The good news is that history is filled with examples of how this kind of approach to government runs its course.

The bad news is that none of these cases have a happy ending.

23
posted on 06/27/2014 3:59:15 AM PDT
by Alberta's Child
("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")

Dictatorship materializing before our own eyes. Never thought it would happen. The concept of checks and balances in government is a concept beyond comprehension for these oligarchic lawless criminals.

24
posted on 06/27/2014 3:59:41 AM PDT
by catfish1957
(Face it!!!! The government in DC is full of treasonous bastards)

Wrong, The Republicans gaining power of the Senate is now totally up in the air and a quick reminder of history will enlighten you to just how feckless the Republicans really are. Does “Slick Willy” ring a bell?

The media will simply turn the tables and the Republicans will impeach themselves.

It is clear that the GOPe and the DNC have no alliance with the American people....it is about power and control.

McDaniel has been able to tear the cover off the false pretense of the GOPe in accepting the Tea Party under its' banner....in truth they hate them as much as the DNC.

Easy to understand if one just opens ones eyes....the coordinated attacks on conservative groups by the Feds (IRS in particular) is supported by both the DNC and GOPe for one reason only.....they, The Tea Party, are a threat to their power monopoly...

To bad most Americans have no understanding of real politics....The Constitution to our elitist officials is meaningless....any who support abiding by it....or looking for the government to be accountable to the people...are the enemy....and will be dealt with harshly...

If the President acts illegally and makes citizens of the estimated 20-30 million illegal aliens....the grand experiment called America will be over....and trust me....the GOPe supports such....

Time is running out....and w/o a MSM keeping a watchful eye on those in power...I dare say...there is not much in the way of stopping them...

He has the power unless the Congress, the courts or the people prevent him. He can simply stop all deportations, leave the border undefended, assist the invaders in their travels North, and assure that our election system is so compromised that the illegals can vote in the millions.

I think there is a common degradation taking place in America. It is not a mere Democrat issue. The GOP, however, has been slower to be affected. That says something good about the footing that the GOP had.

The answer is not on earth, but “off earth.” Personal seeking of the Lord will work a literally supernatural miracle in and through those who do it. Such activity was noted shortly before the formulation of the US Constitution, a flawed document yet (chattel slavery should have been jettisoned from the start) but one that saw the USA through a lot of trying times.

46
posted on 06/27/2014 4:31:04 AM PDT
by HiTech RedNeck
(Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)

“But we here on Freerepublic are a small minority...I hold no hope in the younger generation grasping what is happening...most are to ignorant...those that aren’t are trying to find a way to survive...”

The “younger generation” bears little resemblance to most of us here on Free Republic...literally. Too many Americans wouldn’t breed a younger generation, so our government has been importing them for decades.

Øbama signs an (potentially classified) Executive Order directing the USCIS to immediately, without delay, naturalize all individuals who request it.

DHS writes up the appropriate (again, possibly classified) regulations to implement that EO.

Those regulations are implemented within 30 days.

USCIS dispatches agents to all of the places where these so-called "refugees" are housed and processes them for naturalization. Simultaneously, USCIS sends additional personnel to embassies located in the countries of origin for these folks to augment their staff already on site. They begin to naturalize people before they even arrive.

Meanwhile, knowledge of this becomes public and somebody (like Judicial Watch) takes USCIS, DHS, and the WH to court.

The Øbama Regime ignores any court rulings until it gets to SCOTUS.

SCOTUS, after oral arguments are heard and 6 months of deliberations, unanimously rules that the EO (mentioned above) is unconstitutional.

The Øbama Regime then takes one of two courses of action:

Either they say, "oops...sorry" and stop, or,

They take the Andrew Jackson response ("John Marshall Roberts has made his decision; now let him enforce it!")

Either way, by the time the SCOTUS takes their decision, they could have naturalized 30 to 40 million people.

Now, with the above actions (which, before Øbama, I would have said would be total science fiction), you have tens of millions (if not more) people who are US Citizens...they have naturalization paperwork and have raised their right hands...once it is finally determined that they were improperly naturalized, what happens?

Sure, some conservatives (as opposed to RINOs) will call for their citizenship to be stripped. But do you realistically think that anybody in Congress will seriously propose a bill to do just that?

That is the truly demonic part about the Øbama tyranny...you can't undo the damage once it's happened.

50
posted on 06/27/2014 4:35:56 AM PDT
by markomalley
(Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)

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